Uduakabasi Amos’ Post

Part 1: Since starting university, I’ve been in business. I was building a paint startup, back then, I knew nothing about investors, funding, or anything like that. In 2017, I began applying to the Tony Elumelu Foundation, but I didn’t fully understand the process. Each time, I’d get eliminated in the first round and never make it far. This continued until 2022, when I finally made it to the pitching stage, only to be eliminated after that round. I was so close! Those experiences, though, taught me a lot. The real turning point came during my NYSC in Anambra State, at the NYSC camp. Access Bank Plc organized an entrepreneurial challenge where each platoon selected three members to join a one-week accelerator, after which we had to submit a business proposal.The top ten proposals would win prizes, and the top five would then pitch for a chance to receive funding. My platoon chose me and two other women as representatives. I wasn’t sure why they picked me, but maybe it was because I often mentioned that I had a pilot paint factory. After the accelerator, we had five days to submit our proposals. I wrote a proposal on a biogas concept I named "Duke Biogas," aiming to produce cooking gas from cow dung. I relied heavily on Tony Elumelu Foundation’s proposal-writing guidelines and managed to complete it in three days. Without expecting much, I submitted it. To my surprise, my proposal was rated the best out of thirty submissions from the representatives across all platoons. In fact, I was the only one who made it to the top ten from the representatives in my platoon, even though my platoon officer had doubted me at first. I couldn’t believe it. But then I realized that I had to pitch next, and I was incredibly nervous. When the day came, I finally went through with it, standing in front of 1,300 corps members to pitch Duke Biogas. It was my first in-person pitch. I gave it my best and ended up at third place,winning $400. Thank you, Access Bank Plc. Little did I know, this was just the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. After camp, we completed a remote business training sponsored by Access through Youth Arise. (Access Bank, I’m sorry,I ended up using the prize money for something else!) Back in Anambra, I stayed at the NCCF house, where I met a fellow corps member named Simone from Benue State. We became close quickly. He told me how his family had built its fortune through selling farm produce, which gave me an idea. In Anambra, about 60-80% of the food is imported from northern and middle-belt states in Nigeria, so there was a huge opportunity. I partnered with Simone to start "Duke Foods and Logistics," using the Access Bank prize money to fund it. We sourced food from places like Benue etc, and set up two depots in Anambra: one at Sammy Sparkle Plaza near Kenneth Dike Memorial School in Obinagu, and the other in Abagana, opposite Union Bank. The business took off, and people would joke that we came to Anambra to do business, not serve...